The invention generally relates to remote visual monitoring systems and methods and, more particularly, relates to cameras and communications network systems and methods providing for remote viewing of live visual information over the network.
Visual monitoring for security and other reasons is presently employed and generally known. In conventional visual monitoring systems, a camera is directed at an area to be viewed. The camera is wired to a monitor. The monitor is located at a remote geographic location to the camera.
Wireless digital communications are common. Present wireless digital cellular networks, for example, provide for such communications. Typical cellular systems support voice calls and data communications. Various protocols and packeted information formats are employed in cellular communications to achieve various results. Data transmission and reception rates in cellular networks have typically been limited. The limitation has not been particularly suitable for communication of visual information data, particularly live visual images. New protocols, compression techniques, and communications equipment are continually being developed.
Wide area networks, including, for example, the Internet, are widely known and accessible. Communications over such networks take a variety of forms. In the case of the Internet, individual consumers, as well as large business, employ the giant network for communications. Those communications include everything from information, to voice, to images, to live video, all communicated in the form of digital data. Wireless communications with the Internet and other networks is possible with the advent of digital modems, and these and other communication devices and methods continue to be evolving.
Although many aspects of networks, digital cellular communications, and remote visual monitoring systems are conventional, those aspects have not provided satisfactory remote acquisition of a variety of live visual information and transmission of that information via wireless and network access, with switching to make the information available to select viewers. Such systems and methods for remotely viewing live visual information, however, would be desirable. Limitations on the prior art that have prevented network access viewing of remotely monitored visual occurrences have included rates of wireless communications of visual information, accessibility to networks capable of providing such information, specialized equipment and software required for communicating such information, and complexity, expense, and capabilities of available cameras, networks, and related systems and operations.
Therefore what is needed is systems and methods for providing remote viewing over a network, such as the Internet, of select live visual images.